West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1887-09-22

\ ting i'm loneliness, watching bereavement.
ana you Will get letter in "A strange hand
writing and you will look at the post office
marx, aud say: why, | don't know anybody
living I'M that city;' and you will break tho
envelope, and there you will read the story
OF thanks for your Christian generosity long
years before, and how they have heard afar
OIL or your trouble And the letter will be so
iuu OF kindly "reminiscences and Christian
coincidence, IL will be plaster large enough
10 cover up oil the deep gashes OF your soul
When we take people into our houses as Chris
tian guests, we take them into our sympathies
Tor ever. In bort, Holland, "A soldier with a
sword at his side stopped at "A house, desiring
lodging and shelter. The woman of the house
at first refused admittance saying that the
men OF the house were not at home; but when
ne showed his credentials that he had been
honorably discharged from the army, he was
admitted and tarried during the night In
the nighttime there knocking at the
front door, and two ruflians broke in TO de
spoil that household. No sooner had they
come over the door-sill than the armed guest.
who had primed his piece and charged it
with slugs, met them, and telling the woman
TO stand back, am happy 10 say, dropped
the two aSslulting despsradoes dead at his
feet. Well, now there are no bandits prowling
around 20 destroy our houses but how often
II is that we find those that have been our
guests become our defenders. We gave them
shelter first, and then afterwards i'm the great
conflicts Of life they fought for our repu-
tation; they fought for our property; they
fought for our soul.
Another reward that comes from Christian
hospitality is in the assurance that we shall
nave hospitality shown TO US and TO ours In
the up-turnings Of this life, who knows i'm
what city or what land we may be thrown
and how much we may need an open doorl
There may come no such crisis to us, but our
children may be thrown into some uch
strait. He who is in a Christian manner hos
pitable has free pass through all Christen-
dom 1t may be that You will have been
dead fifty years before any such stress shall
come upon one of your DESCENDANTS; but do
you not suppose that God can remember
fifty yearsi And the knuckle OF the grand
child will be heard against the door of some
stranger, and that door will open; and IL will
be talked over in heaven, and il will be said;
THAT mans grandfather, fifty years ago,
gave shelter to n stranger, and now
strangers door is open for grandson
Among the Greeks, after entertaining and
being ente tanned, they take a piece Of lead
and cut it in two, and the host takes one-half
OF the piece of lead and the guest the other
half as they part These two pieces of lead
are handed down from generation to genera
ton, and from family TO family: and after
awhile perhaps one of tho families In want or
In trouble go out with this one piece of lead
and find the other family with the CORE
spending piece of lead, and no sooner Is the
tally completed than the old hospitality is
aroused, and eternal friendship pledged. SO
the memory of Christian hospitality will 90
down from generation TO generation, and
from family to family, and the tally viii
never be lost neither in this world nor the
world TO come.
Mark this: the day will come when we will
all los turned out-ofdoors, without any ex-
ception-bare foot bare head no water i'm
the canteen, no bread in the haversack and
we will go in that way into the future world
And | wonder If eternal hospitalities will
open before us, and if we will be received
into everlasting habitationsl Francis FIRES
cobald was rich Italian, and he was very
mo nj and e,II
Englishman by the name of Thomas Crom-
well appeared at his door asking for
shelter and aims, which were cheerfully
rendered. Frescobald afterward lost all his
property became very poor, and wandered
up into England; and one day he saw a pro-
cession passing, an lo it was the Lord Chan
cellor of England; and 10 the Lord Chancel-
Tor of England was Thomas Cromwell, the
very man whom he had once befriended i'm
Italy. The Lord Chancellor at the first glance
or Frescobald recognized him, and dis
mounted from his carriage, threw his arms
around him, embraced him paid his debts
invited him TO his house, and said
Here are ten pieces of money TO pay for the
bread you gave me, and here are ten pieces of
money TO provide for the horse you loaned
me, and here are four bags, in each of which
are four hundred ducats. Take them and be
well" SO It will be at last with us If we
entertain Christ in the person of His disciples
In this world, when we pass up into the next
country, we will meet Christ in regal pro.
Nto'IotAf anu Ilt viii pour All the wealth
OF heaven into our lap, and open before
us everlasting Inequalities. And o, how
tame are the richest entertainments we can
give on earth compared with the regal mu-
niticence which Christ will display before our
souls in heaven! | was reading the account
which Thomas Fuller gives OF the entertain
ment provided By George Neville Among
other things for that banquet they had three
hundred quarters of wheat one hundred and
four tuns of wine, eighty oxen, three thou
sand capons, two hundred cranes two hun
dred kids, four thousand pigeons four thou
sand rabbits, two hundred and four bitterns
two hundred pheasants, five hundred
cartridges, four hundred plover, one
hundred quail, one hundred curlews, fifteen
hundred hot pasties, four thousand cold ven
isOn pasties, four thousand custards-the Earl
OF warwick acting as steward-and servitors
one thousand. ., what grand feast was
thatl But then compare il with the provision
which God has made for us on high: that
great banquet hour; the one hundred and
forty and four thousand guests; all the harps
and trumpets of heaven as the orchestra; the
vintage Of the celestial hills poured into tho
tankards; all the fruits of the orchards of
God piled on the golden platters: the angels
or the Lord for cup-bearers, and the once
folded starry banner OF the blue sky flung
out over the scene, while seated at the head
OF the table shall be the One who eighteen
centuries ago declared: Il was a stranger
and ye took Ne in" Our sins hardened.
may we all Raingle in those hospitalitiesl